Arizona of the Dead

Posted on Sat May 7th, 2011 @ 7:54pm by
Edited on on Sat May 7th, 2011 @ 8:02pm

Mission: Shore Leave 2; Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Deck 3 A Junior Officer Quarters
Timeline: Immediately Following "It Must Be Tuesday"

Checking with the Crewmaster since Deck 4 (B) had been sealed, a fellow that he had met only once when he came aboard the Arizona, he was surprised to learn that he had been reassigned to Deck 3 (A). That was the Junior Officers Quarters, and while he was a Junior Officer, he had just assumed that he would not be seeing that area of the ship until he became a Lieutenant Junior Grade. Since his area of the Arizona was sealed off until Engineering could make repairs to the hull, he trudged off with a small supply kit, hoping that his few personal effects hadn't been blown into space along with other things...and people.

Nearly shell shocked from the ordeal and almost dead on his feet, Marc finally made it to his new assigned quarters. Opening the door, he found that he shared it with two other crew members. Mumbling a greeting after being on his feet for more hours than he remembered, he went to one of the improvised cots that was set up in the room and collapsed onto it, dropping the supply kit on the floor beside of it.

Sleep immediately claimed him, but it was not a restful peace. Images flashed in his mind's eye; crewmen with missing body parts, hideous burns, the cries of the dying and wounded in Sickbay. He moaned in his sleep, but the other crewmen in the cramped quarters had their own demons to deal with and ignored him.

Sickbay. Doctor...Commodore Cowell, his hands inside of Lieutenant Junior Grade Lishka. Her words floating in his mind. "It comes with the job." She had said that when he reported finding Ensign Tadesco, his Starfleet friend. Now she lay on the table in Sickbay while the Commodore worked to save her life. Blood flooded from the wound, covering her pale skin. More blood than the gauze he frantically handed Doctor Cowell could soak up. It flowed off the edge of the table onto the floor and he desperately begged the man to stop it. The Commodore looked at him and grinned a lifeless grin, his face that of another crewman he had seen minutes before. "Well, make shit happen, Shrek!"

Marc stumbled and fell onto the bloody floor. "Sir...sir, help me!" He cried as blood got in his mouth. Suddenly, the lights blew and he slipped and fell again. Only a clotted moan met his ears as he fumbled for something solid to grab onto and pulled himself to his feet. "Commodore! Commodore Cowell! Where are you?"

Again, only silence greeted him and he nearly jumped out of his skin as a hand grabbed his shoulder. He thought it was the Commodore telling him that everything was okay and it was just a power fluctuation and that Engineering would get it on immediately. A foul stench greeted him when he turned in the direction that he had been grabbed, causing him to flinch. "Wha...?" Marc started to ask, but stopped immediately as the lights came back on.

Instead of feeling safe, Ensign Marcus Schenk screamed as he had done as a child and had seen a Klingon Cob'lat charging him when a zoo force field had collapsed. The dead in Sickbay were getting back to their feet and horrible moans filled the air. He turned to run, but the hand on his shoulder stopped him with unusual strength. Looking at it, he saw that parts of exposed flesh was a deathly gray. His horrified eyes followed the line of the arm until he reached the face and he screamed again. It was Ensign Paula Tadesco and her eyes were just as lifeless as the rest of her.

"What's the matter, Marc? I thought you'd be happy to see me again," she husked out the words from between jagged teeth breathlessly. "You missed your chance at the Academy, but you can have me nowwwww."

Screaming again, he desperately sought to tear himself from her grip and landed on the floor. More hands gripped him and he lashed out, connecting with solid flesh and a very real "Oof!" A hand reached in from the corner of his vision and slapped him, hard. "Wake up, Ensign! Wake up!"

Gasping, he opened his eyes and realized that he was in the crew quarters and there was no walking dead around him, and no blood on the floor where he lay. Three crewmen were around him. "Are you okay, Ensign? You were screaming and thrashing around."

"Fine...I'm fine," Marc gasped. "Just a nightmare. I guess it comes with the job."